


Dead and Gone: Can't Move On

by Probably_Not_Batman



Series: Dead and Gone [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Death, Flashbacks, Gen, Ghosts, Injury, Multi, blood mentions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-05-03 21:24:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14577975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Probably_Not_Batman/pseuds/Probably_Not_Batman
Summary: All Sollux wanted was a normal life, but you can't really have one of those when you promise help to someone who's been dead for twenty years, now can you?





	1. Chapter 1

The trees rustle gently above you, barely keeping the blistering heat of the sun off of the back of your neck. Your back is burning under your t-shirt, sweat beading on your forehead and making your bangs stick to your face. The girl in front of you doesn’t seem tired at all and you hate her a little bit for it, though you can’t stay irritated as she turns to grin widely at you. She’s shorter and wider than you, her reddish-brown eyes shining and her face framed by her curly brown hair. A large backpack hangs from her shoulders, which is more than you’re carrying and you grimace as you realize just how out of shape you are.

“Come on, Sollux!” she calls, waving you forward as she continues to walk backwards. Even though there’s no path beneath your feet, she manages not to trip on any of the roots or bushes that cling to the ground. “We’re almost there! Can’t you hear the water?”

You tilt your head a little, the faintest sound of gurgling water reaching you. “Why are we here again, AA?” you pant, finally catching up to her as she stops at the edge of the creek.

“ _Because_ ,” she huffs, putting her hands on her hips although she keeps smiling. “This is the best place to find cool rocks.” She points to the sheer drop off in front of you, where the water slowly and steadily had carved away. “See? We can find all kinds of stuff near the edge and there’s even some less steep places to look at what’s in the wall. Just be careful not to fall in. The ground right on the edge can be a little weak.”

You sigh pointedly as she drops her bag on the ground next to you and pulls out a little pack of digging tools. “I thought Dave wath your go-to partner on thith thtuff.”

“Well, yeah,” she shrugs. “But he’s got a test in his psych class on Tuesday, so he’s got to _study_.” She says it like it’s a dirty word, scrunching up her nose before shoving a small shovel in your hand. “But that’s why you’re here!”

You raise an eyebrow over the frames of your colored glasses, but ultimately turn to the edge of the creek and crouch to begin looking at the rocks. “You’re lucky you’re my favorite couthin,” you mumble, yelping when a sudden hug almost sends both of you over the edge. “Jethuth fuck, Aradia!”

She laughs against the back of your head before letting you go and practically skipping a little further down.

She owes you for this.

Two hours and an empty bottle of water later, you’re ready to leave. Your hands are crusted with dirt, much of it stuck under your fingernails, and you’re pretty sure that the back of your neck and your face are completely sunburnt, although you’ve reapplied sunscreen twice since you arrived.

You look up, watching as she examines the underside of a large, flat rock that you are not helping carry back. Beside you is a little tub of rocks with bits of crystal or shell in them, a few even looking like plants had been pressed into them, but you figured that there was more than enough there already.

Standing, you start to call her name, only halfway through the first syllable when a loud cracking noise echoes through the forest around you. Aradia’s head whips toward you just as a branch tumbles from the foliage above you, barely missing your head as it crashes into the edge and takes a few rocks as a mess of dirt.

“Sollux! Are you okay?” Aradia shouts, her frame tense as though she’s about to sprint at you.

“I’m fine,” you call back, though even you can hear the slight shaking in your voice. Your eyes are wide, your heart slamming against your ribs as unneeded adrenaline makes your head spin. With a deep breath to try and steady your recently shot nerves, you look to where the branch fell. The water is about four feet down from the edge, only a couple of feet deep but moving pretty fast. The branch is already gone, which doesn’t make you feel very good about standing this close to the edge. However, the shine of metal catches your eye, shimmering from where the rocks were knocked away.

You crouch, brushing away more dirt to reveal a bulky golden ring. It’s made of a wide band with swirling designs you can’t quite place, a large violet gem set into the metal with a fancy looking ‘A’ carved into the gem’s surface. You pick it up, almost dropping it when you realize that…it’s warm.

It sits heavy in your palm as you stand again, taking a step forward toward Aradia without taking your eyes off of the jewelry.

You hear the scream before you realize the ground below you is gone. The dirt crumbles to nothing as soon as you put your weight on it and you plunge toward the creek. The water is cold when you hit it, the force of the current sending you sideways before you can catch your balance and slamming the side of your face into one of the larger stones sitting in the bottom of the creek. Your vision goes fuzzy, your limbs losing coordination as you fumble in the water. The flow is dragging you farther and farther away from Aradia, but you can’t seem to do anything about it as your consciousness begins to fade.

“-up, you fuckin idiot,” mumbles a voice above you as you come to, a hand slapping your cheek a little harder than necessary.

You struggle to get your eyes open, the heat of the sun barely keeping you from shivering in your soaked clothes. When you finally do, you frown as an unfamiliar face hovers above you. The other person looks about your age, his hair red but shimmering almost flamelike in the sun, a streak of almost white brushed back into the rest of his curls. He’s pale, his cheeks covered with freckles that are barely obscured by his glasses. Behind those glasses are his eyes, the strangest eyes you’ve seen aside from your own. They’re a bright violet, almost the exact color of the gem set into the ring you can still feel, still oddly warm, in your hand.

He wraps his hands around your arm and you realize how sore your shoulder is. He must have dragged you from the water. With a grunt, he pulls you further onto shore and you look back at the creek. You’re close enough to the river it feeds into for the sharp drop to mellow into actual shores, though about ten feet further and you’d have faced a sharp drop you know is filled with jagged rocks. He drops your arm and when you turn he’s vanished entirely.

What the fuck?

“Sollux!” you hear, dragging your attention to the trees as Aradia bursts from them, tears streaming down her face. She pauses to stare at you, safe on the shore, and flings her arms around you.

“I told you to be careful,” she says through shuddering breaths. “You’re not allowed to die on me!”

“I- thorry,” you mumble, your brain still feeling a little fuzzy as it tries to catch up with everything that happened. You touch your hand to your face, hissing slightly as pain shoots across your cheek. Your fingers come away stained with red and as you try to stand your vision spins in and out of focus. “Where’d he go?”

Aradia catches your shoulder, steadying you and frowning as she forces you to meet her gaze. “Where did who go, Sollux?”

“There wath…” you pause as your tongue fumbles around the words, your hand pressing to your head. “There wath a guy here. He’th the one who pulled me out of the water.”

Her frown becomes more apparent and her fingertips brush over your forehead. “There was no one here, Sollux.”

“What? No, he wath here,” you insist, looking to the forest. “I…I thaw him!”

“…Sollux,” Aradia says slowly, studying your expression. “I- you hit your head really hard. We should go to a hospital.”

“I-“ you want to insist that you’re not crazy, but your head is hurting too badly for you to argue. The warmth of the ring in your hand catches your attention once again and you almost throw it into the creek. It’s the reason you fell in after all. Instead, you shove it in your pocket and nod a little before realizing that isn’t a great idea right now.

Aradia makes you sit down and sip from a water bottle while she grabs her bag, carefully guiding you out of the forest although you’re adamant that you can walk on your own. The drive to the hospital is tense, the sterile scent of the building making you gag as you sit down on the crinkly paper covering the chair.

She steps out of the room when the doctor steps in and you glare after her.

The doctor asks you a series of questions and by the time he determines that you don’t have a concussion you’re more than a little irritated and still in pain. A nurse cleans the scrape that runs from your temple to your jawline and smears antibacterial cream over it all before Aradia returns, though the person at her side makes you groan internally.

“Hey, Dad.”

“Sollux! What happened?” He’s a little taller than you and his hair is neater but his thin face and mismatched eyes make it pretty clear you’re related.

“I fell in the creek,” you huff, feeling as though you’re a little kid instead of nearing twenty-three. “I’m fine. No concussion or anything.”

You can see him eyeing the bruises already swelling your face, a frown set onto his face. “How’d that happen?”

“I wath helping Aradia look for weird rockth,” you say irritably, sliding off of the chair and following the nurse back to the front desk to sign a few papers before you can leave. “It wath an accident. I’m _fine_.”

He still looks worried and you can hear him asking Aradia to keep an eye on you, though he tries to keep his voice low. It takes most of your self-control not to snap at him that you’re not a kid anymore, you know he worries about you. It’s all part of the job description, right?

You assure him again that you’re fine until he finally lets Aradia drive you home. She climbs the stairs behind you to the apartment you share, setting her backpack down in the living room before bringing you some painkillers.

“Thankth, AA,” you mutter, shuffling to your room as she calls that she’ll wake you up for dinner.

She had been your best friend since birth and when you got into the same college it only made sense for you to move in together. Your bedroom is on one side of the hall, hers at the other with a bathroom attached to each, the kitchen branching off of the living room. Though the living room and kitchen are mostly neat, your room is anything but. There’s a bed shoved against one wall and a desk against the other, a dresser taking up a corner and every available surface littered with papers, clothes or computer bits. The only whole computer is your laptop, which sits on your desk. Your bed is thankfully free of debris and you shimmy out of your jeans before tucking yourself under the thick quilt and trying your best to take a nap.

The first thing you notice when you wake up is that something smells delicious, which might have been what woke you in the first place and definitely means that you need to get up. It also means that Aradia ordered something, since exactly zero of the people living in this apartment can cook. You slide almost bonelessly off of your bed, only putting in enough effort to keep from hitting the ground before you reach for the nightstand to grab your glasses. Though the colored lenses were mostly to help with your migraines, you actually did need them to see properly.

Instead of your glasses, however, your hand landed on something tiny, round and warm. You jump and lift your palm to reveal a band of gold that you’re almost certain you left in your pocket. Something cold settles in your stomach, the room just seeming the tiniest bit off as you take a step back and a look around.

The last light of the dying day streams through the broken blinds of your window, glinting off of… your glasses. They are folded up neatly as you almost never do, sitting on top of your laptop. The uneasy feeling rises to your throat as you make you’re way almost ridiculously cautiously to pick them up, putting them on and not feeling any better. You pick up the ring and examine it. The gem and is smooth and shiny, the metal looking like it had just been polished although you’re certain it had still been grimy with dirt when you’d shoved it in your pocket.

There’s still an uneasiness in the air and in your stomach as you pull on a pair of sweatpants that was draped across your computer chair.

You try to shake off the feeling, poking your head into Aradia’s room just long enough to toss the ring into her tub of rocks from todays outing. The uneasy feeling lessens a little and you step into the living room, grinning at the open box of pizza sitting on the coffee table. It’s covered in as much meat and cheese as it can fit, two slices already missing. You grab the paper plate that’s sitting next to the box, piling three slices onto it before joining Aradia on the couch. She grins at you through a mouthful of greasy goodness, sitting up a little.

You pick up a slice from the plate that’s starting to buckle under the weight of the food, pausing before you take a bite to look at her. “Did you go in my room at all while I was athleep?”

The grin is replaced by a confused look and she shakes her head. “No? Why would I?”

“I could have thworn I put my glatheth on my nightthtand, but they were acroth the room when I woke up,” you shrug, finally digging into your pizza.

She returns the shrug. “I mean, you could have just been mistaken.”

“I gueth,” you mumble through the food.

There’s a long silence before she speaks again. “Are you okay? Does your head still hurt?”

You sigh, knowing she’s just worried but annoyed nonetheless. You know it won’t bother her though, irritation is just your natural reaction to like 97% of situations. “I’m fine, AA. When doethn’t my head hurt?”

“True,” she agrees, ruffling your hair with the hand that isn’t currently covered in grease. “No harm in checking though.”

“One good thing came out of thith, I gueth.”

“What’s that?”

You grin at her. “Now I have excuthe not to go on any of thothe tripth again.”

She sticks her tongue out at you and goes back to her pizza, passing you the remote as the show she was watching ends. You take turns flicking through the channels until long after the pizza is devoured, both of you almost asleep on the couch before you finally decide to go to bed.

You pull yourself to your feet and shuffle to your room, a rather large yawn making the injured half of your face ache. The light shines weakly from the ceiling, but it’s enough to make something on your nightstand shine as you abruptly freeze.

The ring is sitting in the same place it was when you woke from your nap, the carved surface of the gem facing carefully toward you.

Your exhaustion is almost forgotten as you pick it up, examining the surface again and glancing around the room. Before you could pass it off as simple misremembering, but you know you left this in Aradia’s room. You shove a pile of clothes off of your computer chair and start up your laptop, not letting the ring out of your sight as you set out to learn anything you can about it.

After an hour and a dozen searches, you find jack shit. The closest you get it figuring out that the lines carved into the sides are Celtic knots, never-ending loops with no clear beginning. Perhaps it’s because the ‘A’ doesn’t really have anything special to it, but you can’t find any sort of leads to where it came from aside from where you found it.

Frustrated, you shut it into a drawer and put your chair in front of the drawer. At least if someone messes with it, the noise should wake you this time. It’s surprisingly easy to fall asleep despite the cold feeling that still makes your stomach curl.

When you wake up, nothing is out of place and you feel a bit of relief as you gather your bag and head to class with Aradia. Most of your class time is spent wavering in and out of focus on the lecture and trying your hardest to avoid socializing, though the perpetually pissed off guy in your biology class is an exception to that rule.

He’s shorter than you, his eyes a startling red that stands out from his dark skin and hair. Despite his constant scowl, you can see the concern in his eyes as he spends close to ten minutes questioning you about the bandages covering one side of your face. It occurs to you briefly that almost nobody you know has normal eyes, though that fact slips your mind as soon as you get home and open the door to your room.

The first thing that pops into your head as you look at the space is ‘wow I haven’t seen this much of my floor in a year’. The second is something you say aloud.

“What the fuck?” Your voice might shoot up a few octaves as you ask the question, but you ignore that in favor of staring.

Your room…is clean. The dirty clothes that had been pretty much strewn anywhere are sitting in your previously ignored hamper, the still clean ones gone from sight and most likely somewhere in the closet or drawers that you’d use if you were a functioning adult. The computer bits are arranged neatly on your desk and your bed is even made, the books on your shelf all neatly in place and your assignments sitting in a stack on top of your laptop. And on your nightstand is that.

God.

Damn.

Ring.

You drop your bag by the door, more confused and irritated than scared as you pick up the ring and storm over to Aradia’s room, holding it out to her.

“We have a thituation.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick warning this chapter has some blood and sort of body horror.

Aradia stares at you for a long moment from her spot at her desk, the rocks she’d gathered yesterday neatly lined up in front of her where she was organizing them. She raises an eyebrow and peers at the ring in your hand.

“A situation?”

You open your mouth and immediately realize how crazy you’re going to sound. Though…this is Aradia of all people but still, you hesitate before sighing. “Jutht… come and look at thith bullshit.”

She stands up, setting the rock in her hand down as she follows you across the hall and pokes her head into your room. “Wow. What’s the occasion?”

“I didn’t do thith!” you exclaim, waving the ring at her again. “When I got back from clath it wath like thith!” Your lisp is getting heavier with every word and you take a deep breath to try and calm down. “And thith little shit wath on my nightthtand!”

She looks at the ring, her brow furrowing. “The ring?”

“Yeth! I put it in my pocket, your room and a drawer and it keepth showing up again!”

Her eyes immediately go bright and she grins at you. “So, let me get this straight, you’ve got a fancy ring with a paranormal maid attached to it?”

“I- thith ithn’t one of your ghotht movieth, AA! Thomething weird ith going on!”

“I’m being completely serious, Sollux!”

You stare at her for a long minute. “You’re not thaying thith ith a ghotht.”

“Well do you have a better explanation? A silent jewelry enthusiast or something?”

“I-“ you really can’t think of any logical explanation to this, but that doesn’t mean that you’re going to jump to ‘spoopy shit’ like Aradia will. Still, she seems excited as she dashes back to her room.

“And I know the perfect way to find out!” She reappears with a cardboard box in her hands that makes you all the more uneasy.

It’s long and thin, the swirling text across the top reading ‘ _Spirit Board’_ and making you regret telling her.

“Not that I’m thaying there’th any merit to thith bullshit, AA,” you say carefully. “But ithn’t that shit like…a really bad idea? I’m pretty thure I can name about half a dozen movieth that thpethifically show why we shouldn’t uthe that thing.”

She rolls her eyes at you and heads to the kitchen, dropping the box onto the table and searching the cabinets for… something. “That’s because they didn’t know how to use them properly!” she assures you.

“And you do?”

“Mom was a professional medium, remember?”

You can barely remember your aunt, the strange woman you still can’t believe was your father’s sister. She had died when you were still pretty young, which sent Aradia and her sister to live with you when both of you were about ten.

“A little?”

“Well, she taught me some stuff. Damara remembers more than I do, but she’s taught me too! Trust me, I’m not going to summon anything. At least, not in our apartment.” She winks at you, setting out several candles. “Can you light those for me?”

You search through your pockets, finally finding your lighter and accepting that you weren’t going to talk her out of this before lighting the candles. The lights flicking off make you jump, though the lights of the living room still stream through the doorway.

“Don’t be such a scaredy-cat,” she teases you, setting the board up in the middle of the candles.

Rolling your eyes, you watch her adjust things until she holds out her hand toward you expectantly. “Where’s the ring?”

You stare for a moment before the realization hits you and you drop the ring into her palm. Her smile falters and she drops it onto the table with a yelp, staring just past your shoulder. You frown and follow her gaze, although you don’t see anything behind you. The hairs on the back of your neck stand up, a chill dragging its fingers up your spine as Aradia carefully picks the ring back up and places it next to the board.

The flames of the candles flicker, the light they cast on the walls dancing as you sit down across from Aradia and put a finger on the planchette. You’ve seen enough movies to know how this goes, though you doubt anything will come of this. Of course, that doesn’t stop your stomach from tying itself into a dozen knots as the planchette circles the board before coming to a stop in the middle.

Aradia grins at you, the flickering candlelight making the expression look just a bit sinister to your already nervous mind. “You ready?”

You’re really not, but you nod anyway.

“Is there anyone here with us?” She asks the open air, pausing and staring intently at the board. After a few seconds she glances behind you again, her gaze going blank for a few moments before she repeats the question.

Still nothing.

She huffs and looks at the ring. “Is this yours? It’s very nice.”

“It’th gaudy ath fuck,” you mumble, earning a quick glare from Aradia as she looks around the room. She looks more frustrated than disappointed, her lips pursed before she asks another question.

“Did you die near the creek? Is that why your ring was there?”

“Jethuth, AA, jump right into the heavy shit, why don’t you?”

“Well, I don’t see you asking anything!”

“Becauthe thith ith ridiculouth!”

She sighs and touches the ring with her free hand, her body tensing as she does so. Her eyes seem to glaze over, her mouth falling open slightly as she stares blankly across the room. You remember this happening to her a lot when you were younger, back when she had excitedly told you she could see ghosts. You had never really believed her, but the blank stare has your stomach climbing to your throat.

“Aradia?”

She doesn’t answer, her breathing shallow as her shoulders begin to tremble. Panic rises in your chest and you wave your free hand in front of her face, though she doesn’t react.

“Aradia!”

After another moment of silence, you grab the ring and rip it away from her, watching as she suddenly takes a deep breath. She blinks a few times before the blankness fades and looks at you, her jaw clenching for a moment before she shakes her head sharply.

“We aren’t going to get anywhere like this,” she mumbles, looking back at the board.

“AA? What happened? Are you okay?”

She ignores your questions, circling the board again. “Alright! We’re going to be going now. Goodbye!”

Once she finishes with the statement, she lifts her hand from the planchette and sets it next to the board, looking more than a little tired.

“Aradia!” your voice is sharp and catches her attention, making her look at you. You’re standing, your eyes narrowed as you glare across the table. “What the fuck wath that?”

“I-“ she pauses, standing and starting to blow out the candles. “I’m fine. I just spaced out for a minute there.”

“Bullshit.”

“Seriously, Sollux. I’m fine,” she smiles at you reassuringly, but you don’t buy it. She ignores your insistence for a real answer in favor of grabbing her jacket from the living room and looking at her watch. “Shit. That took longer than I thought. I’ve got work.”

“AA-“

“I’ll be back tonight, Sollux!” she chirps at you, sweeping out the front door despite your protests.

You are going to get a real answer as soon as she got home, that much you’re sure of.

As soon as the front door closes, the air seems to get cooler around you. Your blood freezes as your turn your head nervously, the previously dark room once again lit by the flickering candles Aradia had just blown out.

You take a cautious step toward the table, noticing with a gulp that the planchette is sitting in the middle of the board. Glancing at the door Aradia had just left through, you, against your better judgement, sit down in front of the board and put a finger on the planchette. Your other hand picks up the ring and sets it in front of you, the warmth of the metal seeming to flare against your skin, though the heat never got uncomfortable.

“Ith anyone here?” You ask, already feeling stupid and hating the way your nerves make your lisp even worse. After a long moment of hating yourself for going along with this, something tugs at the planchette. You almost jump, watching it slide across the board to hover over an answer.

‘ _Yes_.’

Your breath turns shaky as the logical part of your brain scrambles to provide an explanation. Instead of listening to it, you hear yourself talking again.

“Are you the one who wath mething with my room?”

The planchette moves almost immediately, circling back to the same answer.

‘ _Yes_.’

“Ith thith your ring?”

It circles back again.

‘ _Yes_.’

You take a deep breath, chewing on your lip for a long moment. “What’th your name?”

There’s a hesitation this time before it moves over the letters.

_‘E’_

_‘R’_

_‘I’_

_‘D’_

_‘A’_

_‘N’_

You run over the letters in your head until they make sense.

“Eridan?”

‘ _Yes._ ’

“Why didn’t you move thith thing when Aradia wath here?”

This time, there’s no answer.

“What? You didn’t want to talk to her?”

The planchette starts moving, faster now as it slides across the board almost too quick for your hand to keep up.

_‘S’_

_‘H’_

_‘E’_

It pauses for a split second.

_‘C’_

_‘A’_

_‘N’_

_‘T’_

It pauses again.

_‘H’_

_‘E’_

_‘L’_

_‘P’_

It stops over the last letter and your brow furrows.

“She can’t help? Help with what?”

There’s no answer.

“…if she can’t help… can I help?”

_‘Yes.’_

You pause, the cold in your veins turning to something heavy in your stomach. You want to throw the board, to burn it and toss it into the nearest dumpster along with the ring. You want to call Aradia and tell her that you’ve fucked up, because you’re absolutely sure that you’re doing just that.

You lick your suddenly dry lips. The part of your brain that’s still denying this is screaming and your adrenaline is spiking as the air around you grows colder, though the ring is still hot in the palm of your hand.

Your voice sounds shaky, almost hoarse.

“How?”

The force drags your hand around the board, each letter making the fear in your chest heavier.

_‘P’_

_‘R’_

_‘O’_

_‘M’_

_‘I’_

_‘S’_

_‘E’_

You stare at the board, your brow furrowing in confusion. It’s curiosity that makes you speak this time.

“Promithe? Promithe what?”

_‘H’_

_‘E’_

_‘L’_

_‘P’_

_‘M’_

_‘E’_

“Help you with what? I’m not going to promithe-“

_‘H’_

_‘U’_

_‘R’_

_‘T’_

_‘S’_

As you feel your breathing quicken, your vision beginning to swim, you realize that you are in way over your head, especially when the planchette begins to slide jerkily from letter to letter, fast enough to make your shoulder ache. You realize with a jolt of utter terror that you can’t pull your hand away from the planchette, nor are you strong enough to stop it as it zips around the board.

_‘H’_

_‘E’_

_‘L’_

_‘P’_

_‘M’_

_‘E’_

“I can’t-“

_‘HELPMEHELPMEHELPMEHELPMEHELPMEHELPMEHELPMEHELPMEHELPMEHELPMEHELPME-‘_

“Okay!” you practically yell, making the planchette still and return to the center of the board. You have no clue what this…thing could possibly need your help with, but you don’t see another way out of this.

The planchette moves again, much slower this time.

_‘H’_

_‘E’_

_‘L’_

_‘P’_

_‘Yes’_

_‘No’_

You swallow hard. “Yeth.”

It seems to hesitate before moving again.

_‘P’_

_‘R’_

_‘O’_

_‘M’_

_‘I’_

_‘S’_

_‘E’_

“I-“ your voice falters. “I promithe. If I can help you, I will.”

There’s another long pause.

_‘T’_

_‘H’_

_‘A’_

_‘N’_

_‘K’_

_‘Y’_

_‘O’_

_‘U’_

As it hovers over the last letter, your hand comes free from the planchette and you scramble back as the temperature, already colder than it should be, sharply drops. You can see your breath in front of you, icy white and barely visible in the candlelight. The light of the living room is barely filtering in enough to help you see as a breeze that somehow doesn’t touch the candles swirls toward the center of the room.

Above the board, you can see the darkest parts of the shadows around you twisting unnaturally until it forms something vaguely humanoid. To your horror, the light seems to pierce the shadow until the darkness that had hidden it fades and you catch sight of a figure that brings bile to the back of your throat.

Their face looks bloodless, almost grey, and even the freckles that cover it are washed out. Instead of pupils, you can see blank white orbs where their eyes should be, their fiery red hair plastered to their scalp with water and something darker. Blood drips from the corner of their mouth and more of it is splattered across their hands. The glasses that sit on their face are cracked, one lens missing entirely and the violet sweater they’re wearing is as soaked as their hair. At their waist, there is a jagged rip in the fabric and the edges are completely soaked in dark red. With a gag, you realize that below that point there is nothing to the apparition, your eyes leaping back to their bloodied face as their lips twitch into a smile. Their blank eyes close and with a blast of cold air that bursts from the apparition, the candles go out and even the living room light goes out, plunging you into darkness.

You aren’t too proud to admit you scream, the thought of…whatever that was reaching for you making you panic as you run straight into the wall, fumbling until you find a light switch and flick it on.

Once the lights are on you spin, your eyes finding the figure still above the table. This time… this time there is no blood.

That’s the first real difference you notice, though it doesn’t take you long to notice that, aside from the fact that you can see the fridge through him, he looks like he’s alive. His hair is still red, but it’s styled back to show off a platinum streak, and he’s still wearing a violet sweater but it’s no longer ripped or bloodied. He has legs now, which are currently crossed as he floats about a foot above the table.

You can’t help but stare, fear still making you tense. You’re sure this is the same… spirit you saw a moment ago, the same one you just promised to help.

Before you can say anything, however, you meet his violet eyes and realize with a start that he’s the same person who dragged you out of the creek.

“Fuckin’ finally.”

You blink, realizing that had been him.

“Excuthe me?” you manage, mostly out of surprise.

He rolls his eyes and stretches, moving to stand although he still floats a few inches off of the floor. “Do you know how hard it is to move those damn things? I mean, seriously, not even a single thing to help with that energy? If it had been anyone else I don’t think I coulda moved it at all.”

“I- what?”

“I mean, unless I found another compatible medium but the odds of that are pretty much zero so…” he looks you over. “I mean you’re obviously still training but I’ll take what I can get.”

“Training? I’m not a medium! I’m a computer thcienthe major!”

He raises an eyebrow. “I mean, the fact that you were able to even contract with me pretty much proves that you’re a medium. You know, someone with heightened connections to the supernatural elements of the world?”

“I know what a medium ith! But I’m not one! AA…maybe-“

He cuts you off with a wave of his hand. “Yeah, yeah, but she wasn’t compatible. I mean, sure she could probably help me out, but it’d take a lot more out of her. It’s like… using a hammer with a screw. Technically, you could still get it into the wall, but it wouldn’t work as well, and it would take more effort. Easier to just use a screwdriver, right?” He pauses. “Your parents really didn’t teach you any a this?”

“Why would they?”

“Because-“ he looks like he’s grasping for words, now seeming just as confused as you are. “Because this sort of shit is hereditary! My mother was a medium and so was I and I know the other medium living here is related to you!”

“I have no clue what the fuck you’re talking about. My mom’th dead and my dad ithn’t any thort of palm reader or whatever the fuck.”

He glares at you. “Bein a medium is more than palm readin, you dolt! It’s just a word for people with that connection and sure divination is one possible specialty but- ugh I can’t believe of all the people I could get contracted with, it had to be someone who has no fuckin clue what he even is!”

He throws his hands up in the air and paces back and forth.

“What I am? What doeth thith fucking contract even mean?”

“It _means_ you can see me and I can help you with shit, but you have to fulfill your end of the deal too,” he says with a glare, storming towards you and poking you in the chest. Somehow you can feel it, though he still looks mostly see through.

“My end of the deal?’

“What you promised!”

“I- I promithed to help you, right? What am I thuppothed to help you with?”

He shoves his face into his hands and screams to himself for a second. “I swear if you’re any indication of what mediums now are like, I’m absolutely terrified for our kind. Okay, let’s take this as slowly as possible. What am I?”

“An athhole.”

“Oh, ha ha. Seriously.”

“You’re…a ghost, right?” Part of you still wants to insist that ghosts aren’t real, but… you honestly don’t have any kind of rational explanation for this.

“Well…a spirit. But yes. What would a spirit want?”

“Um…I don’t-“

He storms to the other side of the room, staring at the ceiling in absolute frustration. “How can one person be so fuckin stupid? Do I really need to spell everything out for you?”

You glare at him and grit your teeth. “Oh, shut the fuck up. You can’t blame me for not knowing thith shit when no one ever told me any of it! What the fuck _do_ you want anyway? I’m thith clothe to throwing that damn ring off a bridge.”

He’s back in front of you in an instant, his face right in front of yours. “Oh no. Your little friend can tell you exactly why that’s a bad idea. You took my ring, you made the contract and you’re going to stick with it.”

“But what do you _want_?”

“I want to move on. And you’re going to help me do it.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm back! I'm so sorry this took so long I moved and was completely unaware that where I would be living had no internet, though I should be back at a steady network within a few weeks! If you're following any of my other stories they are not abandoned I promise!  
> TW: Car crashes, mentions of blood and death

You were four years old the first time you heard someone die.

You don’t mean hearing a last breath or final words, or something as sudden as a gunshot. It had started as a headache, a whispered voice rising and falling at the edge of your awareness. Your hand had been tightly held in your father’s, your older brother at his other side with his skateboard in hand and a cast on his arm.

The park was behind you, your palms coated in flakes of rust from clinging to the aging chains of the swings, mulch clinging to your hair from where Mituna had dared you to jump, your knees scraped through your jeans from you had followed through.

Home was a little way down the street, short enough to walk although you were tired enough that you started dragging your feet so you could demand to be carried the rest of the way. The pain throbbing in your skull got worse and you pulled your hand free so you could press both palms to your head.

Your father had stopped and kneeled in front of you, calm but concerned. These headaches hadn’t been rare for you even as a child, but you suppose it was his job to be worried.

“Sol?” he had said, the voice grating against your ears and only making the pain worse. It sounded way too loud, but…the voice that was still echoing through your head wasn’t your fathers. It was too high pitched and panicked and there weren’t any words you could make out.

The pain had only gotten more intense and hot tears had streamed over your face as you finally looked up. Your father’s eyes had widened and even Mituna had paused his perpetual snickering.

“Sollux?” your father said quickly, wiping the tears from your mismatched eyes. “What’s wrong?”

The noise in your head only managed to increase and you were amazed he couldn’t hear it. “She won’t stop screaming,” you managed to force through your lisp. Your father’s brow had furrowed as he studied your face, though a moment later his eyes slipped over your shoulder and in the split second that you saw his face pale, the voice in your head went silent and the only sound you could hear was the squeal of tires and the crunch of twisting metal.

Your father had pulled you to his chest and told you not to look, instructing Mituna in a very tense voice to not let go of your hand until you were both home. You had managed a short glance back.

Beside two mangled pieces of metal that your brain couldn’t think of as cars were several people and you could hear the wails of someone almost drowning out the approaching sirens.

Now, as you let yourself fall out of focus, you wonder if that’s part of the ‘medium’ shit your…guest was talking about. He seems oblivious to your current trek through semi-traumatic memories, his legs curled under his body as he floats an inch above the cushions of your couch and you aren’t entirely sure that he’s not just doing it to be taller than you.

There’s a look of intense concentration on his face as he picks up the remote and turns up the volume of the channel he had demanded you turn it to before you’d finally told him to do it himself, his eyes lighting up with pride when the object stays in his hand. Of course, it immediately disappears as soon as his eyes meet your own and he goes right back to annoyed.

Apparently being contracted will allow him to use your energy to manifest more easily and will give you a ‘boost in power’, but so far all it’s done is give you a headache. You huff out a breath and let your body sag into the cushions, barely paying attention when the theme music of a familiar series came on.

“Harry Potter?” you hear him mumble, a curious frown on his face. You’ve noticed that most of his emotions are expressed as some sort of frown. You’re tempted to tell him that old bullshit about it taking more muscles to smile or frown, but honestly why the fuck would you care? Would it really matter anyway, considering that he doesn’t really…have muscles anymore?

“Yeah?” you prompt him lazily, not really caring why he’s confused but apparently loving to make life more irritating for yourself.

“I didn’t know they’d made it into a movie,” he answers with a shrug. “Did they make the second one too? I knew it had come out, but I didn’t get a chance to read it before…” He gestures vaguely toward his middle, his frown turning into a grimace.

He hasn’t told you how he died, only waving it off as ‘an accident’, and when you think about the amount of blood soaking his former appearance you don’t really think you want to know.

Instead of continuing to think about the probably violent and traumatic death of the ghost currently cradling your television remote, you raise an eyebrow.

“They made all theven of them into movieth,” you tell him and his eyes widen, the violet of his irises still managing to catch you off guard. If he wasn’t dead you’d accuse him of wearing contact lenses, though you’re pretty sure those don’t cross over with the soul.

“Sev-ven?” he says with almost-excitement that makes him lose control of his stutter, somehow managing to be dramatic without being energetic.

“Well, yeah. Theven bookth and eight movieth. Nine, I gueth, if you include the exthpanded univerthe.”

His entire face lights up and you’ve never seen a delighted frown before but you’re pretty sure that’s the expression he’s making right now. The ends of his lips even manage to twitch into an actual smile for a moment, like he’s fighting with his own happiness.

“I get that you’ve been dead for God knowth how long, but how the fuck did you not know thith?”

And the normal scowl immediately returns, joy draining from him in a second as he sneers at you.

“The entire time I’ve been dead, my ring has been stuck in the dirt by the creek,” he says with an eye roll audible in his voice, apparently perfectly able to control his stutter as long as he was being an asshole.

“And?”

“And?” he scoffs and visibly rolls his eyes this time, the remote starting to sink a bit into his palm, although it doesn’t fall through completely. “My ring is my anchor. I can’t travel far from where my anchor is, especially when I’m not contracted.”

“Meaning?” At this point you’ll admit you’re just being difficult to see his face turn red with frustration and wonder how he’s doing that with no blood.

“Meaning I’v-ve been in the w-woods for tw-wenty years, dumbass!” he yells, cursing as the remote finally does fall through his hand, getting stuck about midway through his thigh when he concentrates again.

You snicker to yourself as he snatches the remote back into his hand and turns the volume up loud enough that you’re sure your neighbors will complain. But then again, their dog has a habit of barking at three in the morning when you’re almost asleep so fuck them.

Eridan grumbles under his breath but jumps when the door suddenly swings open. You look at the time, realizing that yes this is exactly when she should be home how were you surprised by this? She doesn’t even glance at your short wave, instead focused on a point closer to the ceiling. When you follow her gaze, you can see that the jolt of surprise ended with Eridan several feet higher with the remote clutched to his chest. After a moment he lets it drop and Aradia grins widely and finally looks at you.

“So, I guess you two worked it out?”

You raise your eyebrows and glance at Eridan to see him rolling his eyes before getting the same look of concentration from earlier. A small ache starts at your temples and you can see him give up whatever he was trying and cross his arms, glaring at you. What now?

“AA, did you- “she shushes you and holds out her hand.

“What?”

“Give me the ring, silly! It’s a lot easier to talk when I can actually hear everyone in on the conversation.”

Eridan hisses something at you, but you aren’t paying attention as you toss the ring to her. She catches it easily and you can’t exactly ignore Eridan again as he punches you in the arm.

“Don’t toss my ring around like it’s some piece of cheap costume jewelry! That’s my family ring!”

“Ow!” you exclaim, glaring right back at him and rubbing the spot on your arm. Apparently, ghosts can hit hard, harder than you at least which is some kind of bullshit.

You hear Aradia giggle and glare at her too, though she’s looking right at Eridan. “Well, you look much better than the last time I saw you. I’m Aradia.”

Eridan watches her for a moment before lowering himself to the ground, his gaze wary as he looks from her face to the ring being twirled between her fingers. “I suppose so. I was runnin on empty a bit earlier tryin to get this asshole’s attention. Eridan Ampora.” He holds out his hand before seeming to cringe backwards, like he’d just remembered he was incorporeal.

Aradia doesn’t even flinch, reaching out and grabbing his hand.

His eyes go wide as he shakes her hand, staring at her. When she grins at him, you notice that her eyes are almost pure white. She lets go of his hand and the look fades.

“Ampora? I don’t think I’ve heard that family name before,” she says, though he still seems shocked.

“I- how?” Eridan blinks slowly.

“Oh, I’m a Megido!” She laughs and although you have no clue what that means, a look of recognition dawns on the spirits face.

“Ah,” he nods. “No, you wouldn’t have heard of my family name. I took my father’s name.”

“That’s okay! What’s your specialty? Or well…what was your specialty I guess?”

Eridan snorts a little, looking amused. “I specialized in Alchemy. My mother was an Oracle, but Divination never really seemed to stick.”

Aradia tilts her head. “So, I’m guessing you were…Space?”

“Ha, Hope actually.”

“Oh, sorry! I haven’t met a Hope Alchemist before! Though, I guess I haven’t met that many Hope mediums in general!”

He looks a little more relaxed, taking a deep (if nonexistent) breath and going back to a more content than wary frown. “I can understand that. My mother was Void and her sister was Light. And you are?”

“Time!” she chirps.

He looks back at you, his lip curling disdainfully. “I don’t suppose he knows his, right?”

Aradia chuckles. “Hmm, I’m not sure but if I had to I’d guess Doom?”

You squirm a little under their gazes and decide to just glare in response. “What the fuck are you even talking about.”

Eridan glances back to Aradia. “How is he so clueless?”

“Don’t be mean,” she rolls his eyes. “Sollux, I don’t think you’ve ever really been interested in this kind of stuff.”

You shrug. “The thpooky shit ith more your thtyle, AA.”

Aradia drops onto the couch beside you and grins widely. “Well, I’m not the one contracted to a spirit.”

“Ugh, jutht tell me how to get rid of him.”

“Excuse me, I’m standin right here,” Eridan says indignantly and you ignore him.

“You just have to complete the contract,” she shrugs, looking at Eridan. “So, what’s your contract?”

“Crossin over,” Eridan says simply.

Her eyes brighten and she sits up a little. “Oh? Well, maybe I can help him help you!”

You groan and finally sit up. “Fine. What the fuck am I supposed to do to help you move on?”

Eridan grimaces and you notice the pages of the book beside him rustling slightly. Is he doing that?

“I have a pretty good idea about what I need to do but,” he looks at Aradia. “Contracts are kinda personal and I don’t really want to have a bunch of mediums getting all into my business.”

Aradia raises an eyebrow. “You’d rather just have an inexperienced one trying to help you move on? Sorry, Sollux.” She pats your arm.

“I don’t give a shit,” you shrug.

After a moment, Eridan seems to deflate a little. “Fine. What do you need to know to help him?”

“We can start with how you died!” she says a little too excitedly. It always seemed kind of weird when she got “hype about death”, as Dave would say. Not that he has much room to talk about it, considering that you’ve seen the amount of dead things he has in jars in his room. “I know that a cause of death can definitely be a reason why you’re having trouble. Violent ends and especially and considering…”

Eridan crosses his arms, crossing his legs as well and sitting on the air. “…I died in an accident. I’d rather not go into the details but two of my friends were involved as well.”

“Are they stuck as well?”

“I…think so,” he says after a moment, his arms seeming to wrap even tighter around himself.

“Tho what, you can’t get your table in the Afterlife without the retht of your party?”

He glances at you and purses his lips, but nods a little. “Somethin like that at least, and as much as I wish I could get help from anyone else, you’re the one I’m contracted to so I’m stuck with you. If they can move on, then maybe I can too.”

“What wath the accident?” you ask, raising your own eyebrow when he winces.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” he snaps. “I’m sorry if I don’t really like discussing my fuckin death.”

“Do you want help, athhole?” you snap and he glares at you.

“You can help me just by helpin my friends move on,” he hisses and you sigh heavily.

“Fine.”

Aradia claps her hands together. “Will we find them by the creek too? Who are we looking for? What are their names?”

Eridan goes right back to looking uncomfortable and frowns even more intensely. “Their names are Feferi and Kanaya and yeah…they should be by the creek. I don’t think they have anchors though, so I don’t really know how to find them exactly.”

Aradia frowns and leans back. “Well that complicates things,” she says, but it isn’t long before she starts smiling again. “But I know we can do this! Don’t worry, we’ll have you crossing over in no time!”

Eridan seems at least a little happy at that and nods a little. “Thank you.”

You manage to go back to not-watching television while Eridan watches intently. Aradia gets up and manages to make instant noodles for the two of you, which you eat quickly. Eridan floats after you when you go to bed and you glance at him.

“Do you even thleep?”

“Not really,” he says. “I can sort of space out for a while.”

You roll your eyes. “Tho what, you’re jutht gonna watch me thleep?”

“You wish you were that interesting,” he snips at you and you really do find it amusing how easy is it to make him puff up. “Do you have anything to do?”

You groan internally and look around, suddenly having an idea. You pull several books into your arms and carry them into the living room, dumping them on the coffee table.

Eridan follows curiously, floating just over your shoulder.

“What are those?” he asks, looking at the stack of books you just so unceremoniously threw onto the table.

“Bookth,” you say, just for the sake of being an asshole but hey, you’re tired.

He glares at you and shoves your shoulder. “I can fuckin see that, dickhead. What books are they?”

“The Harry Potter therieth.”

His glare softens and he looks at them again but doesn’t say anything so you continue.

“You can read them ath much ath you want, jutht thtay the fuck out of my room, okay?”

He nods but doesn’t seem to be paying you much attention anymore, much more engrossed in the book now in his hands. You leave him to that and flop onto your bed, grumbling into your pillow as sleep decides it wants nothing to do with you.

Your mind keeps running through the events of the day, to your guest in the living room and to the frightening version you had seen of him.

You wonder what kind of accident could have done that, especially with two other people involved.

After a long minute of curiosity, you finally make yourself sit up and grab your phone. It’s easy enough to type in “Eridan Ampora”.

The first result you get is for a news article.

**Local College Student Found Dead; Two Still Missing**

It makes you grimace a little, but you click on it anyway. It isn’t long before you drop your phone onto your chest, shuddering.

**Early Saturday morning, 21-year-old Eridan Ampora was found in Skaia Creek after being reported missing by his family. Though it appears to be a tragic accident, police have not ruled out foul play. The Derse County Police Department are still currently searching for 23-year-old Feferi Peixes and 22-year-old Kanaya Maryam, both last seen with Mr. Ampora. If you have any information, please contact the Police Department at-**

The cause of death isn’t listed, but when you think of how Eridan had called it an accident and the sharp rocks at the end of the rushing water…

You shudder again and drop your phone onto your nightstand, feeling more than a little sick.

However, annoying he might be, you don’t really think anyone deserves that or being stuck twenty years in the place where they had died.

You resolve to at least try to help him, but you have no clue how your going to do that. You think back to what he’d said, about helping his friends move on. Were they the ones missing in the news report?

Well, at least you have a start.

Time to find some missing ghosts.


End file.
